STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Marco Rubio: Gangsta Rap Fan

By Ray Gustini

The Weekly Standard's cover
story on Florida Senator-elect Marco Rubio is breathless and
laudatory, right down to the description of Rubio's wife, Jeanette. ("A
stunning former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who looks like she just
walked off the field despite having given birth to four kids in the last
ten years.") The thesis is that Rubio is a different kind of
Republican, right down to his taste in pre-debate music, which is more
Biggie Smalls than Brahms. Explains Stephen L. Hayes:

I asked two
of Rubio’s top aides—Albert Martinez, who handled communications for
Rubio during his rise in Florida politics and served as a consultant on
the Senate race, and Alex Burgos, the communications director on the
Senate campaign—what Rubio listened to in order to get himself in the
right frame of mind for such a big moment. Burgos guessed it was
probably Tupac. Martinez thought maybe NWA. Rubio, 39, like so many men
his age, is a closet fan of gangsta rap.

Martinez picked up the
iPod, glanced at the last tune played, and shook his head. “I don’t
believe this,” he said, laughing. It wasn’t gangsta rap, but club music.
Rubio, who had spent three hours in debate prep the previous afternoon,
had been gathering his final pre-debate thoughts to “Sexy Bitch,” by
French DJ David Guetta and rapper Akon.

Although as we've learned
this election cycle, the GOP's hip-hop
caucus is more influential than one would think. Can talk of a
Rubio-RZA dream ticket be far off?